Anyone with children knows how expensive groceries can be and as I run a daycare the costs can get out of control quickly, so I was immediately drawn to the chance to win up to $300 in free groceries!

This interactive, educational experience involved a table full of pre-packaged food choices featuring the Nutrition Facts table (NFt) like this one pictured:

The “Nutrition FACT-O” game worked by using the food choices supplied which included canned peaches, cereal and frozen burgers to answer questions based on the nutritional information supplied in the table.

Every time I correctly answered a question I was awarded a chip, at the end of the game I was able to drop these chips into a Plinko style game to win prizes. My Husband, Mother and Father in law all got in on the action but our toddler was only interested in the chips!

Many of us think we understand the nutrition labels on products but simple details can trip us up in our quest to eat better. For instance, lots of people incorrectly calculate the totals in their food choices by basing the amounts on the stated serving size but then consuming more than that, or by not reading the serving size correctly.

Even once you have the serving size correctly measured, how much is considered a “high” or “low” amount of a specific nutrient?

I learned a few tips from the staff on hand at the event such as when considering the daily values of a specific food, a measurement of 5% daily value (DV) or less is considered a little and 15% DV or more is considered a lot. You can check the information for yourself at Canada.ca/NutritionFacts.

Learn more by visiting www.FocusOnTheFacts.ca where you can enter for a chance to win $300 in free groceries (one winner/month!).

The Nutrition Facts table (NFt) is where you’ll find all the pertinent nutritional information on many of the foods you eat and enjoy. Look for it on the back of a range of packaged foods.

Firstly, check the serving size to see exactly how much of the food item the nutritional amounts are for. Sometimes when comparing two or more choices you may have to do a little math, for instance one food product may be calculated based on 100g of the product whereas the comparison may be calculated for a specific number of items, such as one slice of bread or 14 crackers which only weigh 66g, always make sure you are comparing like with like.

The information found on the table will tell you how many calories, fat, sodium, fibre, sugars and protein are in all the foods you eat. But how much is considered a small amount of protein, how much is a lot of fibre? The #FocusOnTheFacts campaign aims to simplify this question by instructing us all to take a look at the daily values (DV), which are based on 100% of your daily requirements.

The point of paying attention to these numbers is that it educates us, the consumer. The more information we have at hand, the more informed our choices will be. Sometimes we may still decide to eat that burger that has 400mg of sodium or the dessert that has 20% of our DV of fat but at least we have made that choice willingly and can perhaps be extra vigilant in our choices for the rest of the day, after all, when we know better, we do better.

So give it a go yourself, next time you choose a prepackaged food, check for the Nutritional Facts table NFt at Focus on The Facts and stay informed, healthy and educated.

GIVEAWAY

Nutrition Facts would like for one (1) lucky Ottawa Mommy Club follower to win a $100 (1) grocery gift card.

Rules: Open to Canadian residents 18 + (except Québec). You have 48 hours to reply by email once you are notified as the winner. If you don’t, we will draw another entry. Prize is non-transferable. No substitution or cash equivalent of prizes is permitted. The selected winner must correctly answer a mathematical question in order to win the prize mentioned above. The Ottawa Mommy Club is not responsible for prize fulfillment and for the delivery/shipment of the prize(s) mentioned above. For our complete set of rules, please click here.

I’m Fiona Tapp, a Freelance Writer and Educator.
I live and work in the city of Ottawa, Canada and originally hail from East London in the United Kingdom.
I am an Expert in the field of Pedagogy, a teacher of 13 years and Master’s Degree holder in Education.
I write about a variety of topics including parenting, education and travel writing, as well as feminist perspectives and personal opinion pieces.
I write articles, essays, business copywriting, Education policies, Government HR documents and commercial web content, as well as fiction and poetry.
When I am not writing, I love making playdough cars with my toddler and binge watching new TV shows with my husband.

yay! I got 100%! I love teaching my kids about reading the labels, and I get caught A LOT in the grocery isles… reading the labels, evaluating, deciding, and — putting items back based on label information. Thanks for the great read! Sharing…

I got 100% (4/4) and I didn’t really learn anything new but it was a great reminder to look at serving size when comparing food items and their nutritional values. Different products with different packaging can use different serving sizes for the same type of product, so it is important to look at the serving size first to really do the product comparison properly – an important but easy first step to forget!